- So I've been more or less following minimalism
for the last two years or so,
and definitely I would describe my house
as very minimalist.
And so I figured, since I haven't done a house tour either,
I would kill two birds with one stone here
and give you guys a tour of my house
and also kinda show you like what things I have
and why I would define myself as a minimalist.
So when I was younger, I actually lived
in a pretty big home, and I can always remember as a kid,
we just had a lotta stuff.
It seemed like every closet that we had was full of clothes
and decorations and like Christmas wrapping paper.
And we had a basement too that had a lotta toys.
And so I always had a lotta cool stuff growing up,
but I can remember like when we would go on vacations,
for example, it was always kinda stressful
because we had a lotta pets too.
I had like every pet imaginable when I was a kid.
We had like gerbils.
We had birds.
We had hermit crabs.
So I remember when we would go on vacation,
it was like we had like 50 things we had to do.
You know, we had to feed the birds and feed the guinea pigs.
And so I feel like when I was younger,
I had all of these different things,
and then as I got older, I began to question,
well which of these things are actually, you know,
bringing me happiness.
I kind of decided to cut out a lot of the stuff
that people tend to have,
and I just don't really invite that into my life.
So that being said, let's go ahead and start this tour.
And we're gonna go ahead into the kitchen,
and I'll show you guys some of the different details there.
Okay, so one of the things I wanted to mention
first of all, the elephant in the room, okay.
So the house that I live in is actually
about 2,000 square feet, two bedroom, two bathroom.
And I know right off the bat a lotta people
are gonna be thinking,
"How is that minimalist?
"I thought if you were a minimalist,
"you had to live in like a tiny apartment."
And so what you don't actually see is that attached
to this house are actually two different apartments.
So I actually rent out those two apartments
and that helps me offset the mortgage,
and so my actual cost for living here,
to be honest with you, is probably the same,
if not less, than what many people are paying for,
you know, a very small apartment of half the size.
So that being said, here we are in the kitchen.
One of the things that people often ask me about
is the pile of dishes that I have next to my sink.
I usually have like one bowl, one plate,
a knife, a spoon, and a fork.
And that's because I live alone and like I don't
really see the need to use all of these different plates,
all of these different bowls and glasses,
only to load up your dishwasher to then wash it
and then put them all back in your cabinets.
So I obviously do have like multiple plates,
multiple glasses, but I find it easier
to just use one of them and then just hand wash them
between meals because it honestly takes you like 30 seconds.
You leave it out to dry and then you never really have
a full dishwasher that you have to take care of.
Another thing that people often notice
is that I don't really have a lot of pans.
I have like my one main frying pan that I use
for just about everything.
And then I also have a cast iron skillet.
Between these two things, that pretty much covers
all that I need in terms of pans.
And then I also have just one pot.
I don't have like 15 different pots.
Like I said, I can remember when I was younger,
we had just like so much different cookware.
But I literally have like just the basics here.
I have two bowls, one cutting board,
and then I have one pot.
And if I ever find that I need more,
I may just like make something in two batches.
But like, as a person living here alone,
I'm not cooking that much food where I would need that.
So the kitchen, to be honest with you guys,
is a lot of empty space.
Most of these cabinets you see behind me,
there's nothing in them.
But I like it that way because it's not full
of like clutter in like 15 different cooking gadgets.
I have just like the basic stuff
that you need for basic meals and none of the extra.
Okay, so coming right off of the kitchen,
now we move into the laundry room.
This is actually pretty interesting
because this room actually used to be part
of the wraparound porch, and then one of the previous owners
finished it off and turned it into this laundry room.
And then back behind me is the smaller downstairs bathroom.
Now one of the things I wanna point out to you guys first
is these shirts that I have right here.
And this has been something that has been
a huge source of stress in my life,
and that is getting up every day and figuring out
what to wear.
So I do like clothes,
and I have like a lotta button shirts and stuff.
But as far as T-shirts go,
I used to just have so much stress
about like what T-shirts I would wear every day,
and I know it sounds silly,
but I would spend like five minutes looking
through all my shirts trying to pick out the right shirt.
And if anybody relates to that, let me know in the comments,
or am I just alone in that?
So what I decided to do is I found a shirt
that I really liked.
And I'm kind of a tall person,
so I have to wear tall shirts.
So for me, finding shirts the right length
was always just really difficult.
So I found one shirt that I really liked.
I ordered three of each in these three different colors.
I'm wearing a gray one right now.
So 95% of the time, I'm wearing one of these three shirts
in either gray, black, or white.
And that just like relieved so much stress in my life
over what I need to, you know, be wearing every single day.
One of the other things you're gonna notice
throughout this house is there are a lot of mirrors.
And that was actually kind of a style note
from the past owner that I kept up with
'cause I like mirrors as well.
And I find it just kinda makes your space feel
a lot more open.
So you're gonna see a lotta mirrors
as we go through the house.
And then another thing that I really liked
that the past owner did,
other than the kitchen, every single room in this house
is actually painted the same color.
And the reason that the old owner did that,
he said it's because he used his decor
or his wife used the decor as a way to kinda bring color
to the room, and they weren't messin' around
with like 15 different colors in their house.
Another thing that I really enjoy in this room
is my barn beam bench that I picked up.
Now this is actually from an original barn,
and this house is actually used to be a farm.
And I have a barn on the property too,
so that was very fitting.
So the barn beam bench, and then I have a table
from my old apartment here as well.
So I do have a fair amount of seating in this house,
and it is a lotta space for one person,
but I like having that ability to invite people over
and have larger groups and family over
and kinda have space for everybody for holidays
and things like that.
Okay, so this is like the sore thumb right here for sure.
This is like one of the only sources of clutter
in my entire house.
And this is a temporary like work shelf I put up.
So when I moved in, I was doing a lotta projects.
I was doing a lot of hanging of like artwork,
and so I have this plastic utility shelf
from my old apartment, which has kinda become a catch-all
for my tools.
But come this spring when I'm done with kind of all
this interior work that I'm doing,
this is definitely going to come out.
But this is like the only big source of clutter right now
in my house that has all of my different tools.
And then over here, I actually leave this out
all the time because I play guitar probably
like two or three times a day.
So I used to like close it all up and tuck it
in that corner, but I don't really use this table,
so I just leave my guitar on top.
That way it's easy enough to pull that out.
And then the one other thing that you'll notice
in this room are my reusable shopping bags.
As part of this whole minimalist thing,
I feel like that also really bridges eco-friendly.
A lotta people who are minimalists
are also more eco-friendly,
and I just got really sick and tired of like getting
all these plastic bags and throwing them in the garbage.
So I use my reusable shopping bags
and I leave them out because if I don't,
I won't see them.
And then if I don't see them,
I don't bring them to the store with me.
Okay, so now we are here in the living room.
And one of the biggest things people always mention
when they come into this room,
there's something missing from this room.
I'm gonna show you guys a couple of different shots.
I'm sure a lot of you have picked up on it already
of what is not in this room that you would expect
in every other person's living room.
So I'll give you a second to think about it.
The answer is a television.
So I do have a TV on the third floor,
but this was one of my favorite parts about this house
when I first came in is that even the old owner as well
didn't have a TV in the main living area.
And personally, I don't really like watching
that much TV.
I might watch an hour a week, and that's probably a lot,
to be honest with you.
My favorite show is "Impractical Jokers."
That's usually what I am watching.
But I don't watch sports, I'm not into TV,
and so for me, I would just much rather have
this kinda sitting area where I can work
or I can play guitar or I can read.
And I also really enjoy the fireplace that I have here,
so I leave the remote out for that.
I turn this thing on pretty much every day in the cold,
and I really like just sitting here
and like playing guitar by the fireplace
or working by it.
One of the other things you'll notice,
I do like plants.
I only have two right now,
but I am planning on getting some more houseplants
in the future.
And again, that's kind of like what we're doing here
is using plants and decor as a way to kinda bring life
and bring color to the room,
rather than painting the walls and having all
of these different colors on the wall.
Instead by using artwork and things like plants,
you can bring that color out just through the objects
that you have in the room.
Now one favor I wanna ask you guys
is if you have enjoyed this video so far,
obviously a fair amount of production went into this.
If you like these more well-produced videos,
all that I ask is that you drop a thumbs up on this video
for the algorithm.
It helps out and allows this video to get shared
with more people.
And obviously the more people who see videos like this,
the more I'll be able to make these higher-quality videos.
Now one misconception I wanna cover quick
about minimalism before we continue
is that I feel like a lotta people think minimalism means
that you're also frugal and that you don't spend money.
I would actually still define myself
as a pretty frugal person.
There are things that I do spend money on,
but the things that I spend money on are things
that I really highly value.
One of the things I've spent a lotta money on recently,
I spent a lot of money on a nice bed.
But I literally spend eight hours per day in that thing.
I also have a watch that is a little more expensive
than what most people would buy.
And I also have a sports car, a Nissan GT-R,
that I drive in the nicer weather.
But one of the things I heard that really resonated with me
is that you should spend the most money
on the things that you use the most in life.
And so the watch, for example,
that's something I literally wear every single day.
I wear the watch, the only time I'm not wearing it
is like if I'm in the shower or at the gym
or like working on something.
So this is literally on my body probably 22 hours per day.
As far as my bed goes, I spend seven to eight hours per day
in it, so why not spend money on it?
And then your car as well.
The amount of time you spend in your car,
you should be driving something that you enjoy.
So I do spend money on things that I personally
see value in, and I almost always consider
how much time am I actually using these different objects,
and those are the areas where I do spend money.
Okay, guys, so that wraps up the first floor.
Now we're gonna go to floor number two,
and this is actually a three-floor home.
So there's gonna be one more after that.
Okay, so here we are in the master bathroom.
Now there's not really much to show you guys in here.
I'm not really sure what a minimalist bathroom
would look like.
But yeah, I have the basics in here.
This house did come with a Jacuzzi tub.
So one of the things that's kind of funny about this house,
I've never seen this before,
but there's a two-person shower here.
So there's like two shower heads,
which is actually really nice because you can turn on
both shower heads and like get a really good shower.
But one of the kinda funny quirks about me
that a lotta people don't know,
I actually take cold showers and I do it after the gym.
So I literally never use this bathroom,
to be honest with you guys.
I've probably showered in here half a dozen times.
Okay, so here we are now in the master bedroom.
If you guys have been watching a bunch of my videos,
you probably saw this room already,
'cause I was actually doing a Airbnb rental of this room
for about a month and a half where they had basically access
to this bedroom and then the bathroom across the hall.
So I do use the bedroom now,
but at first I wasn't because I have an extra bed
in the attic.
And I was kinda testing out Airbnb to see
what the income potential was like.
So if you're curious about that,
I do have a full video outlining my Airbnb experience.
I'll have a card up on the screen where you guys
can check that out, and I'll also link it up
down in the description below.
But as far as this room goes,
not a lot going on in here.
I do like antiques, to be honest with you guys.
So I do have an antique mirror, antique dresser,
and an antique desk that I purchased for this room.
I already mentioned the bed
I spent quite a bit of money on,
but it is a very comfortable bed.
And I can't say I have a problem falling asleep at night.
Other than that, there's not really a lot going on
in this room.
One of the things that I funny is that this room does have
a walk-in closet, but as you would expect,
it's almost completely empty.
The only thing that I have in here
is basically my luggage for when I'm traveling,
extra bedding, bottles of water for when I was doing
the Airbnb, and then an ironing board.
So it's just funny to me,
there's a lotta space in this house
and a lotta closets that are honestly just completely empty
'cause I keep my clothes in the other bedroom.
Okay, so that's the front half of the second floor.
Now we're going to take a look at the back half,
and this is where my office is.
As they say, this is where the magic happens,
the YouTube magic.
So I've got quite a bit going on right now.
I oftentimes will write up multiple different things
for videos, so I have those kind of plastered
around the walls right now.
But this is basically the office.
I'm a big fan of whiteboards.
And that just helps me with organization,
having everything in front of me.
And the other thing that's really cool about this room
is that the carpet actually has really thick padding
under it, which I didn't put in here.
It was in here to begin with.
So the acoustics in this room are actually
really good for recording.
And I do have tenants, so I have someone below me
and his bedroom is on the other side of this wall.
So having, you know, the thick padding in the carpet
is actually really helpful in terms of the noise
and keeping the noise down.
But yeah, not really a lot going on here in this office.
People always ask me like what this is here.
I have a little thing of bourbon.
I don't actually drink in my office.
I do like bourbon,
but I don't like drink while I'm working.
That's literally just there for my display.
'Cause when I'm recording videos,
basically I shoot them in this desk for the most part.
I use this ring light,
and that's pretty much where I do things.
And obviously, I'm sure because you guys saw the thumbnail,
the Cheerios and milk,
that's just kind of a funny prop.
I was just kinda trying to riff
on the whole minimalism thing 'cause people think
that you're doing all this weird stuff.
So no, I don't actually eat cereal out of a hat.
That was just clever camera work there for the thumbnail.
So this is just a empty milk carton
and then box of Cheerios.
But I don't actually eat cereal in my office.
Okay, so that wraps up the second floor.
Now we're gonna go up to the third floor,
which is kinda the hangout room
and where the spare bed is as well.
All right, so here we are on the third floor.
This is what I made the hangout space.
And this is kind of different
than what the previous owner did.
So the person before me who owned this,
he made this the office.
I was tempted to do that,
but the ceiling is so low up here.
It was very crowded when I was standing up,
so I made that extra bedroom there the office
rather than doing that the other way around.
I don't really have a lot up here,
and to be honest with you guys,
I don't spend a lotta time up here.
I do watch movies or, like I said,
"Impractical Jokers" once in awhile
where I'll come up here or have some friends over.
One of the things that's kinda cool,
I have one of those lift-top tables here.
But I actually don't ever eat up here,
so that doesn't really get used.
And other than that, I just have a spare bed up here
when people are staying over or when I was doing Airbnb
and I had Airbnb guests, that was where I was staying.
And then one other thing that I do have up here
that I like playing once in awhile,
I have some board games, Mastermind, Rummikub,
and I haven't played that Monopoly game yet.
And then downstairs, I have my chess set.
I do like playing chess once in awhile,
so that is one thing that I do enjoy.
I have an Xbox and I have a Nintendo Switch,
but to be honest with you guys,
I haven't turned on either one in a good six months.
And video games, I have a love/hate relationship with them
'cause when I was younger, I was very addicted
to playing video games and it was kind of a way
for me to escape and have like this different world
where I felt, you know, I guess better about that character
than my own life.
So now I kinda don't really get into the video games as much
just 'cause I don't really find it's something
that I enjoy.
I honestly spend most of my time playing guitar
or I travel a lot or I go on walks and do things like that.
So I just personally find I enjoy doing those things
more than like locking into a screen.
And there's nothing against that.
That's just personally not something
I'm interested in doing.
So anyways, guys, I wanna go ahead and wrap up this tour
by giving you guys a couple of pointers on why
I live this way.
Why do I feel that less is more?
And why am I not filling my closets with stuff
and having all this extra stuff
that just doesn't really bring me happiness?
So one of the biggest perks for me for this lifestyle
is that it literally takes me 30 minutes to clean
my entire house.
If you couldn't tell lookin' around,
I'm a pretty OCD cleaner and I keep things very neat.
But I mean, it honestly doesn't take me any time at all
to clean my entire house because I don't have
all this extra stuff.
You know, I don't have to clean up all the stuff
off the floor before I vacuum.
I don't have to brush all these crumbs off the countertop
'cause I keep things pretty clean,
and when you don't have a lot of stuff
cluttering your space, it's just easier to maintain
all those things.
I'm not messing around with fish tanks
or gerbils and all that stuff.
And that's just, some people really do get enjoyment
out of that and I'm not saying it's a bad thing.
But I just personally don't find that those things
serve me at this point in my life.
Another reason why less is more is that I literally
never lose anything.
I'm, knock on wood, I will do that just because I don't want
to now lose things, but literally,
I can't remember the last time I lost track of something.
Because looking around, everything has a home.
My guitar is almost always right there.
Now if you lose a guitar, that's pretty bad.
But I always have a home for everything.
My keys go on the key rack.
I keep my wallet in a certain spot.
So it's almost impossible to lose things
because everything has a home.
And then if you don't just throw stuff around,
there's like no way that you could possibly lose things.
So that's another perk to it.
And then third and finally, I don't really spend
that much money on things for my house.
I have a pretty full house.
I have the furniture that I need.
I'm not frequently out there buying knickknacks.
I'm not buying like random decor.
I don't cycle through different decor.
With the exception of this right here,
this is the extent of my Halloween decorations right here,
my three pumpkins on my table.
But other than that, like I'm not buying decorations
for all these different seasons.
I kinda just have like static decor
that I leave out year-round.
And at the end of the day, guys,
the best way I can describe minimalism, for me anyway,
is that everything that I bring into my life
and that I bring into my home, I do so with a purpose.
So I'm just very purpose-driven when I buy something
like a piece of furniture or a piece of artwork
or even a plant or something like that.
I always buy things with a purpose,
and I look especially for things that are going to,
you know, add value to my life.
But anyways, guys, that's gonna wrap up this video.
I hope you enjoyed it.
If you're new to this channel and you haven't already,
make sure you subscribe and hit that bell for notifications.
And also make sure you guys do follow me over on Instagram.
I post a lotta behind the scenes stuff over there,
so if you wanna see all that,
make sure you follow me there.
But it's gonna wrap up this house tour.
Thanks so much for coming,
and I will see you guys in the next video.